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The French hope of the century or the Colombian Messiah?

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Who is the best talent?

  • Nairo Quintana

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Aug 16, 2011
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At the moment Pinot seems to show the most potential to be a GT contender after getting a top 10 in his first GT. But Quintana I would say is the better climber of the two, his performance at the Giro dell'Emilia and the Vuelta showed what a great climber he is, as well as a lot of potential. Would like to see Quintana get leadership in a GT though, instead of having to work for Valverde again.
 
May 2, 2011
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Afrank said:
At the moment Pinot seems to show the most potential to be a GT contender after getting a top 10 in his first GT. But Quintana I would say is the better climber of the two, his performance at the Giro dell'Emilia and the Vuelta showed what a great climber he is, as well as a lot of potential. Would like to see Quintana get leadership in a GT though, instead of having to work for Valverde again.
My thoughts exactly, at the moment Pinot seems to me the most likely to win a GT one day, he already had the chance to ride his own race at the Tour and I have to say that he's been impressive, on the other hand it would be interesting to see Quintana ride for himself in a GT, but I'm afraid we might have to wait a couple of years to see that.
 
Oct 21, 2012
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I went with Nairo. Pinot is very, very impressive, but Quintana was pacing the elite group and chasing down attacks from Contador and Rodriguez for Valverde at the Vuelta on 20% slopes. I'm not sure if Pinot, or indeed the vast majority of the peloton, is capable of climbing that well. As far as their ability to challenge for GC, I'm undecided. Does Pinot TT better than Quintana?

Also, I'm assuming Quintana is a good descender, because he held off Evans for a downhill stage finish at the Dauphine. I didn't watch that stage though, so I have no idea if it was a difficult descent or not.
 
Have the two of them raced against each other with a free role yet? I'll reserve judgement until they do.

They seem to be a cut above everyone else their age but Chaves, Dombrowski, Aru and Lachlan Morton are a few of the guys that could challenge them.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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42x16ss said:
Have the two of them raced against each other with a free role yet? I'll reserve judgement until they do.

They seem to be a cut above everyone else their age but Chaves, Dombrowski, Aru and Lachlan Morton are a few of the guys that could challenge them.

They both raced in Tour du Haut-Var, and finished 11th (Pinot) and 12th (Quintana), separated by just 2 seconds. And they both race Lombardia where Quintana finished 11th, and Pinot DNFed.

Of course Pinot was probably far from his peak in Lombardia, and Quintana showed some great late season form so don't take it as serious judgement of who's better. Not sure what their situation or form was like in Haut-Var.
 
Oct 21, 2012
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I wonder why everyone disregards Rolland as a French GC contender. I think he definitely has it in him, provided he continues to work on his TTing. And he needs to move from Europcar.
 
Personally i think Quintana is more talented (only one year as a pro compared to 3) and i hope he shall have a great career.
Pinot in my view shall be like Valverde (better or worse i have no idea), great at the Ardennes, great most of the time on climbs and he shall also be better on ITT's but... QUINTANA.

@Alphabet: I like Rolland a lot as well and i think he shall win a GT but he is a bit older than Pinot. He is a better climber for the moment at least as well.
 
42x16ss said:
Have the two of them raced against each other with a free role yet? I'll reserve judgement until they do.

They seem to be a cut above everyone else their age but Chaves, Dombrowski, Aru and Lachlan Morton are a few of the guys that could challenge them.

Morton and Dombrowski are 1992 and 1991 so they are also younger.
 
Oct 21, 2012
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greenedge said:
@Alphabet: I like Rolland a lot as well and i think he shall win a GT but he is a bit older than Pinot. He is a better climber for the moment at least as well.

Rolland's best bet would be the Vuelta or the Giro, I can't see him winning the Tour, even if he improves his TTing ability he probably won't be able to do much better than a podium place. With the way Unipublic create Vuelta routes, I think he should focus on it more so than the Giro. Also he really needs to move from Europcar if he wants to win one. They aren't capable of supporting him, and they aren't likely to gain invites to the Vuelta or Giro regularly.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Afrank said:
At the moment Pinot seems to show the most potential to be a GT contender after getting a top 10 in his first GT. But Quintana I would say is the better climber of the two, his performance at the Giro dell'Emilia and the Vuelta showed what a great climber he is, as well as a lot of potential. Would like to see Quintana get leadership in a GT though, instead of having to work for Valverde again.

pinots natural itt, is much weaker than quintana though. he's also a bad downhiller. pinot is really the pure climber, while quintana is more allround. also see lombardia in the blistering rain. incredible.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Alphabet said:
I went with Nairo. Pinot is very, very impressive, but Quintana was pacing the elite group and chasing down attacks from Contador and Rodriguez for Valverde at the Vuelta on 20% slopes. I'm not sure if Pinot, or indeed the vast majority of the peloton, is capable of climbing that well. As far as their ability to challenge for GC, I'm undecided. Does Pinot TT better than Quintana?

Also, I'm assuming Quintana is a good descender, because he held off Evans for a downhill stage finish at the Dauphine. I didn't watch that stage though, so I have no idea if it was a difficult descent or not.

quintana is good descender indeed. above average, despite his tiny frame. he has great technique. he improved in this so much. pinots downhil is quite bad
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Jason_Mercier said:
If we talk about climbing talent for me it's something like this.
***** Pinot, Quintana
**** Dombrowski
*** Chaves

Then the Betancur, Aru, Bardet, Barguil, Anacona, Atapuma, Elissonde, Landa... are today in other level.

you forget argiro ospina, who is already above level of dombrowski imo. but you will find out about him next year.
 
Aug 23, 2012
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18-Valve. (pithy) said:
Overall: Quintana much better hilly classics rider

LOL. Thibaut Pinot is more explosive, by far has more punch than Nairo and because of this has more potential as a hilly classics rider. We'll see it in 2013. Also Thibaut has demonstrated yet that he can be up there in the hardest 3 weeks GT of the world.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Jason_Mercier said:
LOL. Thibaut Pinot is more explosive, by far has more punch than Nairo and because of this has more potential as a hilly classics rider. We'll see it in 2013. Also Thibaut has demonstrated yet that he can be up there in the hardest 3 weeks GT of the world.

pinot has not shown anywhere to have the engine. quintana has. quintana can go 250 km+ pinot, we have to see... also what you need more in classics than just explosiveness, is technical skills. pinot lacks them severely. he isn't good at placing himself or downhilling.

argiro ospina was the best climber in the clasico rcn this year. amazing talent, will go to movistar in 2013. only 21 years old and been cycling for a few years.

also about pinots, itt, are you for real? pinots itt is really bad. quinta is not. also quintana has always been good in itt, from his junior years.
 
Thibaut Pinot has the potential to become the best climber in the world! That's my opinion at least! He spends more and more time in la danseuse and is in general very fluid on the bike.

Quintana has a different style, but obvious all class as well!

Its close, but I voted T. Pinot.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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Ryo Hazuki said:
pinots natural itt, is much weaker than quintana though. he's also a bad downhiller. pinot is really the pure climber, while quintana is more allround. also see lombardia in the blistering rain. incredible.

Yes, I agree with you. Quintana definitely has shown more talent, as well as great potential to be a GT contender. I would say Pinot's 10th in the Tour shows the most potential to be a GT contender at this point. I think we'll have to see how Quintana does in a GT with full leadership before we can declare him to definitely be a GT contender.

Jason_Mercier said:
LOL. Thibaut Pinot is more explosive, by far has more punch than Nairo and because of this has more potential as a hilly classics rider. We'll see it in 2013. Also Thibaut has demonstrated yet that he can be up there in the hardest 3 weeks GT of the world.

Go watch Giro dell'Emilia this year, and then tell us if Pinot has more potential in the hilly classics. Quintana was amazing in it, his first attack reduced the peloton into a handful of just a few riders, then his 2nd attack dropped everyone. Plus there was also his 11th in Lombardia.
 
i went with quintana on this one but i don't think there is much difference btw the 2 in pure talent with quintana having a bit of an edge.

Alphabet said:
Rolland's best bet would be the Vuelta or the Giro, I can't see him winning the Tour, even if he improves his TTing ability he probably won't be able to do much better than a podium place. With the way Unipublic create Vuelta routes, I think he should focus on it more so than the Giro. Also he really needs to move from Europcar if he wants to win one. They aren't capable of supporting him, and they aren't likely to gain invites to the Vuelta or Giro regularly.

rolland would be by far better suited to the giro then the vuelta. long multiclimb stages are his thing, not the 1 climb sprints unipublic likes to call mountain stages.
 
Afrank said:
Go watch Giro dell'Emilia this year, and then tell us if Pinot has more potential in the hilly classics. Quintana was amazing in it, his first attack reduced the peloton into a handful of just a few riders, then his 2nd attack dropped everyone. Plus there was also his 11th in Lombardia.
Giro dell'Emilia isn't really that good an indicator for hilly classics as it's far harder than any of the Ardennes and is as close to a "mountain-classic" you can get.

To me it seems like Pinot is more explosive/punchy, so I'd think he has more potential in the hills. He has never done any hilly classics in form, though, so it's hard to know. Quintana was never seen in the front in the short "walls" in the Vuelta, which goes to show that his abilities in short hills are limited.
 

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